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THE 



ROBBERY OF THE TREASURY 



EAST JERSEY IN 1768, 

AND CONTEMPORANEOUS EVENTS. 

A PAPER READ BEFORE THE NEW-JERSEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 

SEPTEMBER r2r>rf 185D. 



BY W. A. WHITEHEAD. 







THE ROBBERY OF THE TREASURY. 



Never, probably, did the old Court House at Mrrristown hold a 

larger or more interested audience than on the 19th August, 1773 

seventy-seven years ago. A thousand person-' were thought to be 
within its walls, and, among them all, scarcely an eye could be found 
which did not exhibit the sure tokens of sympathy. The scene — to 
witness whvh such numbers had assembled- -was calculated to enlist 
their attention, for the wholesome supremacy of the laws was that daj- 
to be displayed over those who were their countrymen and fellow-citi- 
zens — of some, friends, relatives and companions, who had ranked in 
that class of society, which the honest, intelligent people of the county 
at that time, were accustomed to regard as the best within its limits • 
but who now were the fallen, subdued objects of commiseration. An 
affecting silence prevailed throughout the assembly, while awaiting the 
commencement of the proceedings, and the deep solemnity of the 
occasion was long remembered. 

Arraigned before the bar of the Court were four remarkably fine 
looking men in the vigor of life ; one of them a physician, another 
the son of an esteemed magistrate of the County ; all of thom were 
married, all were fathers, and all had parents living ; and there, among 
the multitude, were those parents and other relatives of the first res- 
pectability, gazing at the painful scene. Under these distressing cir- 
cumstances, humbled and sorrowing, came these men to receive the 
dread sentence of the law : for what ? — over-anxiety to be rich : 

" Covetousness disbelieveth God, and laugheth at the rights of men" 

in that, the bane of so many and of all times lay the root of their of- 
fence, and the end attained was the judicial mandate that, on the 17th 
September following, they should expiate their crime upon the gallows. 



To notice succinctly the events which brought these unfortunate 
men to this degradation, and their intimate connection — not generally 
known — with the growth of that hostility to the representatives of 
Koyal power in New Jersey which subsequently rendered it so easy a 
matter to subvert it entirely, is the purpose of this paper. Were it not 
for this connection, the fate of the criminals might be as little worthy 
our attention now, as will be, to our descendants, the J;ransgressions of 
hundreds at the present day ; and yet, how unsafe it is to regard the 
least event as unfruitful : — 

" That trivial cause, watered and observed by the hnsha'iilnian day by day. 
In calm, undeviaiing strength doth work iis larsje effect."' 

Early in 1773, a gang of Counterfeiters and Coiners invaded the 
Province from New England and located themselves in difi'erent towns 
and villages between Woodbridge and Middletown.* The quantity of 
spurious coin and bills suddenly put in circulation excited the vigilance 
of the civil authorities, and the exertions made to ferret out these 
rogues fiom abroad, led to the detection of a similar fraternity at 
home, which, for a length of time, had eluded all attempts at dis- 
covery. 

The leader of this band was one Samuel Ford, an artful rogue, who, 
as occasion required, could be " all things to all men," sedate with the 
serious — levity itself, with the gay. He was an Englishman by birth, 
but married and had relatives in Nevv- Jersey. An exceedingly ruddy 
complexion and a remarkable dimple in his chin, aided to make him 
known throughout the section of country M'hich he favored with his 
presence ; and his wanderings brought him in contact with a multitude 
of people, in whom, the life he led excited no little surprise^ attended 
as it was with apparent prosperity ; for it was difficult to conceive how 
a man, whose ostensible living depended upon some badly cultivated 
lands in Morris County could wear the aspect of a thriving farmer — 
one, withal, who had so little work upon his hands. 

He had followed counterfeiting as a regular business for many years 
in ditl'erent places, without suspicion ; but in 1768 th<^ authorities of New 
York, where he then i jsided, had their attention tii.avn towards him, 
and he was apprehended on a charge of uttering false New Jer- 
sey Bills of Credit. He was admitted to bail, and either lost sight of 
afterward, or else his offence was deemed too trifling to call for pun- 
ishment. He immediately, however, set about making more extensive 
arrangements for carrying on his operations. He returned to Morris 



* Two of them were stationed in Perth Araboy in the character of Silversmiths. — 
Dunlap's School History of New York : Vol. I, p. ~02. 



Count}', where, in a secluded spot near Hanover, lie established his 
liead-quarters, formed a connection with a man named Joseph Richard- 
son * as "-reat a scamp, but much less artful than himself, from whom 
he obtained a supply of types, and attempted the emission of counter- 
feit Three-pound Bills of New York. A considerable number was 
printed, but " the thinness of the paper and bad credit of the currency" 
are said to have prevented their general circulation ; and he then com- 
menced upon the New Jersey Bills which were in better repute ; but 
fiom some cause, did not make much progress. 

In 1769, however, a new emission of Pennsylvania bills was thought 
to open a sure and safe avenue to wealth, and both Ford and Rich- 
ardson started off to Ireland — (the counterfeiters in Dublin being pre- 
eminent in those days, and it is thought that as an agent for them 
Ford tirst came to America) — thence went to London and different 
manufacturing towns, improving themselves in their profession. Ford 
applied himself to engraving and type-making, and from his previous 
skill in carving und great mechanical ingenuity, in the course ol a few 
months " became a perfect master of the business," so that when they 
returned to the province in 1772, and commenced operations upon 
Pennsylvania and New Jersey bills. Ford manufactured all his types 
and executed his work so well as to elude the best judges, and for a 
year uninterrupted success attended their efforts. 

By the artifices and persuasions of Ford others were drawn within 
his toils. A number of respectable citizens, well connected, were 
made use of to pass his worthless — and, it may be added, miserably 
executed — specimens of printing, which they were enabled to do with 
ease among their unsuspecting neighbors from their great similarity to 
the bills issued from the government press, for it is said Ford made it 
a rule to submit his different emissions to the ordeal of acceptance or 
rejection at the provincial treasuries before attempting to pass them 
into circulation. The Treasurers were certainly excusable, if unable to 
detect the false from the genuine upon a cursory examination, for, 
printed with common types on coarse paper, the most indifferent 
workman could scarcely fail of producing a successful imitation. — 
Even after the discovery of Ford's gang the improvements in the print- 
ing of the bills were few and might have been easily followed. The 



* The dehit of this fellow is thus noticed in the panprs a few years previous. " Anna- 
polis, June 21.— There came from England, in the Munificence, Capt. Grundili, into 
Patuxent, a steerage passenger, one Richardson, who imported a large quantity of cuiin- 
feit New Jersey six-shilling and three shilling bills. Thesiily blockhead, almost as soon 
as he landed, was very lavish with his paper money, which caused him to be suspected, 
though it is said his roguery is very badly executed. He is in Jail in Calvert County." — 
How he got out does not appear. 



greatest security seems to have been afforded by a difference in the 
color of the ink in different parts of the bills, and the awful annuncia- 
tion on the back, "Tis Death to counterfeit." 

Ford's workshop was known to only one man besides himself and 
Richardson, one John King, whose ostensible employment was that of 
laborer ; who remained in charge while Ford was absent in England. 
It was in the midst of an almost impenetrable swamp about a mile dis- 
tant from his residence at Hanover, in which the water for the greater 
part of the year was a foot deep and through which the operator was 
obliged to creep on his hands and knees for some distance to get at 
his work. Ford would leave his house at day light with his gun, as if 
in pursuit of game, and thus unwatched would attain his secret resort, 
for this practice was so much in accordance with the idle life he had 
apparently always led that it excited neither surprise nor remark. — 
'Tis scarcely necessary to say that — with that strange inconsistency 
observable among all confederated rogues — oaths of secrecy were ad- 
ministered to all concerned ; the omniscience and omnipresence of 
God appealed to as a safeguard from the villainy of each other while 
engaged in defrauding their countrymen and neighbors. 

The suspicions excited against Ford from circumstances transpiring 
at the time of the introduction of forgers from abroad in 1773, which 
has been alluded to, led to his arrest on the 16th July of that year, as 
a distributor of counterfeit money ; but the following day, being aided 
by his confederate King — a rival veteran in villainy — he broke jail and 
escaped.* 

Several persons were immediately taken up in suspicion of being 
connected with Ford in his nefarious practices, and a special term of 
Oyer and Terminer was held on the 4th August for the purpose 
of eliciting information respecting the parties implicated, and the 
extentof their guilt. On the 14th, one of those concerned, for the 
purpose of mitigating his own punishment, made a partial co^^- 
fession, and was followed by another, from whose statement, am|le 
and explicit in its details and from the newspapers of the day, the fore- 
going facts are derived. The swamp was examined and the press 
found, together With a set of plates for printing the bills of Maryland, 
Pennsylvjinia, New York and New Jersey, a r^uantity of typeS; and 
other materials, and a leather wrapper in which the money was kept, 
to which was attached one of the spurious three-pound bills of Penn- 
sylvania. 



* The Slieriff, Mr. Thos. Kinney, was subsequently indicted for remissness in not tak- 
ing bolter care of lus prisoner. 



The persons against whom true bills of indictment were found for 
passing counterfeits were Benjamin Cooper,* Doctor Barnabas Budd, 
and Samuel Haynes ; and David Reynolds was implicated from having 
furnished the confederates with types. These were the four individu- 
als, who having pleaded guilty, were to receive their sentence on the 
19th August, as before mentioned. 

Another, by the name of Ay res, had committed his offence in Sus- 
sex County, and consequently was not put upon his trial at the same 
time with the others. He was a Justice of the Peace and highly re- 
spected. It was believed that he had repented and for some time 
abandoned the practice of circulating the counterfeits, for his whole 
life had been so exemplary to all appearance that, not long before 
suspicion rested upon him, the congregation to which he belonged had 
chosen him to be one of their officers ; and even when the foul blot 
upon his good name became public, so convinced of his innocence was 
his pastor, that he prayed on the Sunday after his commitment for his 
protection from false accusers ; and on a subsequent occasion, on re- 
ceiving false intelligence of his release, publicly returned thanks there- 
for. Before another Sunday arrived, the astounding news was re- 
ceived that he had confessed his guilt. 

The respectability of the culprits, and their influential connections, 
were made to bear with great effect upon the pardoning power, and 
not without success. The day fixed for their execution arrived, and 
Reynolds, who seems to have been the least guilty, suffered the ig- 
nominious death to which he had been sentenced, while the others 
were remanded ; and finally, in December, Governor Franklin pardon- 
ed Haynes, Budd and Cooper, and probably Ayres also, although his 
name does not appear in the same document with the others, f 

Among the Stirling Papers in the New York Historical Society- 
Library (copies of most of which are also in our own) is a letter writ- 
ten by Cooper on the 7th Sept. (when he expected to be hung on the 
17th) soliciting Lord Stirling's interference in his behalf; from which 



* One of the hills passed hy Cooper was exhibited to the Society. It was marked 
across the face " Countrayfit" and an affijavit acrnmpanyine: it, identified ii :'.3 one re- 
ceived from Cooper hv one John Jordon. Robert Dnimmond Esquire enclose(J the affi- 
davit and bdi "to Robert Gold Esq. att Hdnriover" with the followine lui-id directions: 
" the above Mr. John Jurden aiesieih a before me this 30th day of Janavary 1769, and 
I dealer you to Percequte the same as siine as Posi-ehle I am Sr. your Humble Servt. 
RoBT. Drummond." Specimens of the genuine bills were also exhibited. 

t I have understood that the Death warrant of these men— the reprieve of the three 
unexecuted— and the order to guard the jiil against a rescue — were still in existence' 
having been found among the papers of the late Majur John Kinney, a descendant of 
Sheriff Kinney of that period ; and not long since some of Ford's tools were found in the 
house he occupied. 

8 



it appears that Cooper had been in his emplo}^ and had received only 
two parcels of counterfeits, one of which he burnt. It was his con- 
fession that hiid open the secret of the gang so far as he knew them, 
and he says that he had received the assurance of two of the judges, 
one of whom tvas his father, that if he confessed he should not be con- 
sidered in any other light than as a witness. The letter is evidently 
that of an illiterate man, however respectable his relations may have 
been. 

While these events were transpiring, Ford, Richardson and King, 
the prime movers and concocters of the mischief, were seeking safety 
in the wilds of the west with prices set upon their heads. They were 
traced along the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers, were joined by 
another accomplice, and all, well armed, proceeded towards the Mis- 
sissippi. Ford boldly paid his way with his sj)urious Jersey bills, thus 
leaving his mark behind him as he fled, and after reaching the Indian 
conntry, his course was traced some distance by the counterfeit coin 
found in the possession of the uninitiated lords of the forest. Emissa- 
ries were dispatched down the Ohio, after the fugitives, but they suc- 
ceeded in effecting their escape, and their names would probably have 
been as unrecalled as their fate is unknown, had not circumstances, to 
which I would now refer, served to preserve them from oblivion. 

On the night of the 21st July, 17G8, the office of Stephen Skinner, 
then the Treasurer of East Jersey, residing at Perth Amboy, was en- 
tered by some one and robbed of £6,570 9s 4d in coin and bills; a 
sum which few treasuries even in our days can spare without an equi- 
valent, and which then was sufficient lor the support of the province 
an entire vear. Mr. Skinner was connected with many of the leading 
familes in the province, and the fict of the rol>bery as set forth by him 
was, at the time, not doubted. Suspicions fell upon various individ- 
uals, and several were arrested and examined without eliciting any 
information that could give a clue to the perpetrators of the outrage,* 
and the matter remained enshrouded in uncertainty, notwithstanding 
the exertions of the Governor and other functionaries, until the session 
of the assembly in October, 1770. 

That body took up the subject, referred it to a Committee for exam- 
ination, and the result was a report in which an opinion was expressed 
that the loss should be attributed to the negligence of the Treasurer, 



* Among others suspected, James Parker, Mayor, wrote to Gov. Franklin, under date 
of Au!ius.t 8, ITfiS, that the Chief Jiisiice and him-^elf had caused one "Hartwickand 
others in the Brunswick Boat," thai left Amboy the evening before the robbery, to be 
apprehended; but after examination they were dismissed.— W. A. W. MSS : Vol. I, 
No. 107. 



9 

and tliat he should be held accountable for the amount ; and this con- 
clusion was sanctioned bj a vote of the Assembly. The Committee 
threw no light whatever upon the robbery, and the effect of the report 
was to cast upon the Treasurer the odium of having fabricated the 
storj' to shield his own mal-conduct in office. 

Nothing having been done by the Governor towards the suspension 
or removal of Mr. Skinner duiing the two succeeding years, the As- 
sembly in September, 1772, on having their action upon the subject 
invoked by a remonstrance of the Treasurer against the vote of 1770, 
reiterated their approval of that decision, and invited the Governor to 
join in some measure "to bring the Treasurer to account for, and to 
pay to the colony, the sum said to he stolen." They complained that 
that officer was continued in office, the public money still confided to 
his care, and no measures adopted to recover the deficiency in the pub- 
lic funds, and the result of two or three messages between them and the 
Governor was a proposition that Skinner should be removed from of- 
fice, and another Treasurer appointed who should be authorized to 
commence a suit against his predecessor for the deficiency ; and should 
this not meet the Governor's views, he was requested to point out some 
other practical mode of obtaining the desired end. 

To this course the Governor objected upon what appear to be suf- 
ficient grounds so long as there was no proof of embezzlement by the 
Treasurer. In addition to the force of precedents, his instructions 
from the Crown forbade his removing an officer without sufficient 
cause, but neither he nor Skinner objected to the institution of a suit; 
on the contrary the latter expressed his willingness " to submit the 
matter to any reasonable mode of decision," but requested, in justice 
to himself, that he should not be removed until the case was decided 
against him, as it would, without doubt, bias the minds of the people 
unfavorably, and they were " already too much prejudiced by the re- 
ports which had been circulated against him." 'I'he Governor sug- 
gested that an information might be filed, and an amicable suit be based 
thereupon, security being given that the Treasurer would abide its re- 
sult, and, if unfavorable, promising to resign his office. 

Conference Committees of the Council and Assembly were appoint- 
ed — that of the Council being composed of Lord Stirling, John Ste- 
vens, Richard Stockton, and Daniel Coxe* — men of high standing. — 
The Assembly Committee declined the proposition of the Governor and 
Council as being less feasible than that of the vVssembly, (which, how- 
ever, thej' did not urge in the conference,) and objected to the consider- 



* The other memhers of the Council were Peter Kemble, President, James Parker, 
Charlet* Read, David Ogden, Frederick Smyth, Samuel Smith, and Lawrence. 



10 

ation of any otlier project prior to the removal of the Treasurer. — 
Three days after this conference, without desiring any farther consul- 
tation, the Assembly informed the Governor they could take no part 
in the prosecution, and threw upon him the entire responsibility of any 
consequences that might ensue. 

To this captious proceeding Governor Franklin returned a dignified 
reply. The Council were unanimously of opinion that the Treasurer 
ought not to be removed before trial, and as the Assembly refused to 
take any part in the prosecution, declining through their Committee 
to confer freely upon the best mode of attaining the desired end, al- 
thoufrh he had been, and still continued to be, ready to adopt wliatever 
course tlie two Committees might recommend ; it would be unreason- 
aljle to subject him to censure should any ill consequences result to the 
public interests. He was ready to appoint any lawyer to conduct the 
suit which they might recommend to him, (the Attorney General being 
the Trccisurer's brother,) and should they not do so, but rise without 
providing for the expenses of the suit, he would be under the necessity 
of letting the matter remain unsettled. To this message the House 
resolved to return no answer, and at their request, were prorogued the 
latter part of September. 

1'he Legislature did not meet again until November, 1773, and dur- 
ing the recess the affair of the Counterfeiters had transpired, and it 
was natural that the Treasurer, anxiously seeking to exculpate him- 
self from the charges which directly or indirectly had been brought 
against him, should be led to fasten upon Ford as the person most 
likely to have committed the robbery — a deed so much in accordance 
w'nh his other acts of villainy, and enquiries were at once set on foot 
with the view of tracing the crime to him. 

Reynolds, the individual who was executed, testified tiiat on one oc- 
casion, when in want of money of a more valuable knid than their 
own worthless manufacture, Ford promised to procure it for him, ex- 
hibiting at the same time a large package which he gave him reason 
to believe he obtained by the robbery, saying he had " got hold of the 
fag-end of the treasury ;" and subseqently, he saw Ford through a key 
hole cutting up sheets of bills, and, as his own were all printed sepa- 
rately, it was deemed conclusive evidence that these had been obtained 
from the officers of the province before their regular emission. Coop- 
er's first confession did not refer to the robbery, but he subsequently 
swore that Ford had made known to him all the circumstances and 
acknowledged that he, in conjunction with two soldiers attached to 
the garrison at Araboy, had comitted it. 

The censure which had been cast upon Governor Franklin for the 



11 



favor shown the alleged delinquent Treasurer, led him to take up these 
confessions and press them with zeal upon the attention of the Assem- 
bly when they convened in November, 1773. as offering the necessary 
proofs of the innocence of that officer. 

The spirit which the stamp act and other offensive measures of the 
FM-itish Parliament had generated in New Jersey, as well as in the 
other colonies, was by no means extinct, although in New Jersey a 
period of three or four years of comparative quiet had succeeded the re- 
peal of the first, and modification of the other measures. The assembly 
which was elected in 1772 was more decidedly in opposition to Gov- 
ernor Franklin's administration than any of those preceding, and on 
this matter of the robbery the whole strength of that opposition was 

shown. 

James Kinsey, a prominent man from M est Jersey— a member 
from Burlington— was leader of the opposition, and was made chair- 
man of the Committee to which the Governor's message and the ac- 
companying documents were referred.* He made a long report, in 

* The following extracts from original letters in m poi^session, which have never be- 
fore been printed, in some measure raise the curtain .hat would otherwise prevent a ull 
understanding of the course pur,ued by the assernSly, and the mo„ve wh.ch prompted 
i, The letters were written by a member closely connected with the Governor in feel- 
in- and in.er.«t, and a relation of the Treasurer, and «ome allowance may therefore be 
made for a bias in their favor ; hut as they were written to members ol h.s own family, 
with no intention that the iuformalion they contained should be promulgated abroad, the 
statements ar<* undoubtedly, in all their prominent features, correct. ^^^^^^^^^ j^.3 

•• How our politics will turn, I cannot say. Our politicians look .harp for a favorable 

^7?!l Ihu^ is not vet f >und out, to attack the Governor. I enclose you hi« speech, 

,o,«e//ii«p whici 1^^^^^^^^ ,.„rroborated by several striking crcumsran- 

^.«' have £enSed upon and largely spoken to, and though the Governor laid all 

L DrDe^sbJFore tCon which he lounded Ills samiments, yet we have w,sel^ ^ 

«rM .0 confessions however supported by the most striking circumstances, nay, I be- 

Kiorp:=h^thatthej^b^^^ 

1:STX Tke':ZJ:Lon St^erZZ'rer ly ike Hon. and remcalle only by iken. 
TMI^Sp' Med to which every other conmderatior. would be readily sacrificed. * * 
11 IS ' Mr KW«] fi4" i'^l' '» '«ke up the pen against the governor, but without the 
spirit of prophecy, the event is easily to be determined. ^^^ ^^ ^^^^ 

«' The Governor some time ago. agreeably to the request of the house sent a detail of 
1 tie tjovernor suiuo II ^ , s jj ihem. that induced hira to ihink the 

miltee was appointed to '"^P«*-V''%^^rf"'rdavi Ifnc" he has been buried in his office 
Mr. Ki-ey. of course w-^ one E'e^^ f^V .^^^ Sf,,„, ,„ ,how .he treasury was 
writing for his I'ff./"^ what enai hnow,, j^ ,„ j^. He gives out that if 

not robbed, which '/^'"'^^^hew.llnotj^ hardy em t^^ ^ ^^^_ ^^ ^^^^ 6^^^^^ ^ .^ 

lS7"d\'el th'cil'aSriL'd't^^^^ compel him to pay it. All pubhc 



12 

which he took an enth'ely diiiuieiit view of the circumstances presented 
the Covenior, — those considered by him as " strikingly" corrobora- 
tive of the Treasurer's statements, and the cotutssion of Reynolds 
and Cooper, not " striking" the committee with the same force — ex- 
culpatiii<r Ford from the charge brought against him, and broadly in- 
sinuating that the Treasury never had been robbed. This report was 
adopted by a large majoiity. 

It is to this stage of the controversy that the following pasquinade 
refers. It was written by William Livingston, (afterward Governor.) 

" Governor. Gentlemen, the Treasury has been robbed. 

Assemhli/. .Many people. Sir, are of that opinion. 

G. But Sam Ford has robbed it. 

A. That is more than we know. 

(r. Hut I have laid before you the proofs and papers. 

A. The papers, sir, we have received, but the proofs we cannot find. 

G. The}' contain striking circumstances. 

A. They dont strike us. 

******** 

G. But Sam Ford is a villain. 

A.. So he is. 

G. Then he has robbed the Treasury. 

A. Negaiur consequentia.. 



business is at a stanH, the Governor's sjieech not yet read in the house, but kept bark 
with support, &.C.. &e., until the Governor, I suppose, shall be induced to submit to their 
demands. * * 

" 19, December. 1773. 

" For these three rlays past, we have had under consideration the tremendous report 
of the rommiiiee, which has been preparing since the 30iii of last month. It consists of 
75 pages in Mr. K.'a hand writing. It is now before the <Jovernorand Council. The 
committee tlmngiit it an artful measure to make it otdy a rep'ri to the iiouse, and not a 
message to the Governor: not ctmsidering lliat their daily minutes were laid before liim. 
He Itas now got it, and it is a vindication of Saml. Ford against the aspersions cast on 
him by the CJovernor; — an argument in answer to the Governor, that itie treasury was 
robbed: — reflections upon the conduct ol the Gov. and Goun<-il, touching the examina- 
lionsofthe couvict* : — a censure upon the oflicers of government at Morris Court : — and 
yet a salvo for their mistaken z-'al : — a declaration tliat Ford did not rob the treasury : — 
insinuates that it was not rohhed : and yet that it was rolihed ; with at least a dozen 
barefaced lies, that tlie journals of the House, will show with many more contradictions 
and ahsiirdiiies than I have time at present to enumerate. 'I'o contend was in vain : an 
absurdity pointed out was reconciled by the question, and the report carried by a great 
tnajiirity. I have never had more occasion for temper, and 1 think I have had a share of 
Job's on this trying occasion. ******* During these debates, the treasurer 
presented two memorials praying and entreating to be tried: all arp disregarded as 
yet, and by this report the Gov. is to turn him out for his misfortune, while the assembly 
descend to plead the cause of Sam Ford, who they confess to bean arch villain. 

To morrow the Housp will determine on these memorials. How, yim vvill easily 
ptiess, from llie account I have given of their report. In ."•hori, right or w rong, the opin- 
ion of the House is to be followed, and dance as we will the people are to pay the fidler. 

* * * ^ * * The report was certainly framed to prevent any favorable impression 
on the people, with regard to the treasurer, frpmjhe (Governor's message. Its length and 
falseho )d will take time to confute."— W. A. W. JVISS: Vol. IV, Nos. 30-33. 



13 

G. One of" tlie witnesses lias sworn tluit lie s^aw liiin, through a 
key hole, cut the bills from the sheets in which they were printed. 

A. The bills in the Treasury were not in sheets.* 

G. 'I'hat's an unlucky circumstance ; but he is a villain, and there- 
fore the worst must be supposed against him. 

A. The witnesses against him are villains, and therefore to be 
supposed to testify falsely. 

******* 

G. Then you wont lielieve that he has robbed it I 

A. We dont care who has robbed it. 

G, ^Vhat then do you want? 

A. The money. 

G. From whom do you want it; from Sam Ford? 

A. Fiom the man with whom we entrusted it. 

Cr. Then demand it of him. 

A. We dont know how to set about it, unless you turn him out.f 

The report of the Committee was sent to the Governor and was 
answered by him in a long and argumentative message, in which ho 
recapitulated the grounds of his previous version, and narrated the 
circumstance which had marked the investigation of the subject, by 
the previous assembly ; but his reasoning was of no avail — the oppo- 
sition were resolute, and swerved not from the course they had adopt- 
ed. On the 10th February, 1774 — up to which time their answsr to 
the speech, at the opening of the session in November, had not been 
presented — they said " It would give us pleasure to be able to join 
your Excellency in opinion that the robbery of the Eastern Treasury 
had been brought to light, but after having considered your Excellen- 
cy's message of the 2yth November, and examined the papers laid be- 
fore us, we cannot but think that this affair still remains in an obscurity 
which we must leave to time to unravel !"| and an intimation is 



* Several little disorepancies of this kind were made a ereat deal of at the time — 
The writer was told by an aged frieml, then residing in Arnhoy, that it was apserted 
said the broken glass of the panes through which admission into the building was 
to have been attained, was all on the outside of the window inbiead of inside, and 
great stress was laid upon the cirpumstance. 

t Sedgwick's Life of Livingston. 

t As a specimen of the acrimony and poinfedness which characterised most of this 
correspondence, the following extract from the Governor's reply, is here inserted. Ii is 
in answer to the passage in the text :- 



14 

given, that the subsequent course of the Assembly, in relation to the 
support of the government, would depend in some measure upon the 
Governor's determination respecting Mr. Skinner's removal. This 
' withholding of the supplies,' was ever a powerful weapon with colo- 
nial assemblies, and this threat to employ it, may not have been with- 
out effect at the present juncture, although Governor Franklin in his 
rep]}', informed the assembly, he could not be driven by such a pro- 
cedure, to act contrary to his own judgment, and the unanimous ad- 
vice of his council, in a matter he considered just and raasonable ; 
touching not only the honor of the government, but the constitutional 
rights of every freeman in the colony. 

This reply of the Governor closed the correspondence, and the As- 
sembly triumphed. Mr. Skinner, finding there was no probability of 
farther opportunity for investigation or probability that an exculpation 
could be secured so long as he retained his office, on the 22d February 
resigned his commission into the hands of the Governor.* The As- 
sembly immediately nominated a successor, whom, by th6 advice of his 
Council, the Governor confirmed, and John Smyth was appointed 
Treasurer — authority being conferred upon him by an act approved on 
the 11th March, to bring an action against his predecessor for the 
amount " alleged to have been stolen." 

Governor Franklin has been accusedf of having carried on this dis- 
cussion like an unwise, petulant and arrogant man, utterly destitute of 
prudence and self-possession ; but after an examination of the whole 
subject I feel compelled to exonerate him from much of this obloquy, 
and to express the opinion that the course of the Assembly was much 
the most censurable. That the Treasurer was anxious for a thorough 
investigation, there seems to be little doubt, and no possible harm 
would have accrued from a trial in the mode suggested by the Gov- 
ernor and Council, conducted by legal gentlemen of the Assembly ap- 
pointment, for if that course had failed to reach the offender, other 

* The following extract from a letter wriiten by John Stevens, one of the Council, to 
a gentleman of Amboy — the original of which is in tiie writer's possession — refers to 
this event : 

" Burlington, Feb. 28. 1774. 

"♦ * * * *. — On the 23d inst., in the evening, he (Mr. Sliinner) resigned his office 
Biid the next day, before ihe Governor took the advice of Council, we had a message 
from the Assembly by two of their number, acquainting the Council that their House 
were unanimouNin recommending Mr. John Smyth to succeed Mr. Sliinner, and as the 
Council weie of opinion that their acquiescing in the request of the assembly would be 
most conducive to heal the differences subsisting beiween the branches of the Legisla- 
ture on account of ihe Treasurer, they advised the Governor to appoint Mr. Smyth." — 
VV.A.W. MSS: Vol. 1., N. 53. Tlie reader will notice how this nomination by the 
Assembly verifies an assertion made by the writer of the letter on page 59. 

t Sedgwick « Lifs of Livingston. 



15 



measures might have been adopted. But it was early declared by a 
member of the House that the nomination and removal of the Ireas- 
urer by the Assembly was the darling object to which every other con- 
sideration would be readily sacrificed, and we have seen how prompt- 
ly the nomination of a successor followed the retirement of Mr. fekm- 
ner The victory was theirs, and success added still more strength 
and vigor to the opposition, ever on the alert to profit by every mstance, 
however slight, of real or presumed maladministration of the govern- 

It was most ill-judged, consequently, in Governor Franklin, to call 
Mr Skinner into his Council, as he did shortly after his resignation; 
for it could not be considered in any other light than a grant of pardon 
and reward to one lying under obhgations to abide the result of an in- 
vestigation involving his moral character to a great degree. It was 
calculated to injure the Governor, without, in the least, promoting the 
interests of Mr. Skinner, and this was characteristic of Franklin, who 
was generous, and regarded not the consequences to himself when 
anxious to serve his friends. 

Legislative halU were not the only arenas where combatants met to 
•= , . „. „„ i„ve reviewed. The newspapers soon 

discuss the circumstances we have revieweu. r r 

became tl,e medium of communication be ween the P-"^-. ^"^ as 
none were vet established in New Jersey, those m New York were se 
"ect d ancf nmch of their limited space, for some weeks was engrossed 

: 40 subject. Mr. Kinsey and his -P«' ;--"''Xr tt 
fended with much ability and with no small admixture o that party 
violence which now too commonly prevails on hke occasions 

In Rivington's paper of January 87th, 1774, an iromcal letter ot 
thelecnest'charalt'- appeared, purporting to be -^te"^^ ^Yt: 
Ford to Mr. Kinsey, thanking hhn for his exertions " be^J f ^^ 
husband "Tlie credulous will scarcely be made to believe, said 
.Cktte "that thine was the laborious and arduous task to convmco 
a maioritv of thirty of the most learned Senators of the age that facts 

thiXS Isaiitity of oaths, added to the — ^^,^^ "Ts 
aeclaredandconhrmedwitbthelastb.,. on of«,eJep^^^^^^^ 

to suDDort them, were fictions — * * ^^"^ '-"'^ / . . 

:V:^l induce wentyonc of 'h- to ackiK,w,ed^ their coiivictioii 

and deny even the existence of these tacts. umy u 
: s asked-her husband's pardon for counterfeiting winch nnghta^so 
he obtained through his influence. Such was the effect of this lettei 
tirtM«ney-3 Woods were at the trouble and expense o presen - 
tg Ml s. Ford to the printer h, New York for the purpose of testifying 
in\is presence that the letter was not genume. 

y 



16 

Mr. Kinsey, in his report, took the ground that the oaths of such 
men as Reynokls, Cooper, Haynes, and Budd, were not deserving of 
credence. It was acknowledged by his reviewers, that such a conclu- 
sion was correct, unless the testimony was confirmed by other circum- 
stances, when it should be received ; and with some show of propriety 
he was called upon to act consistently by having the charges against 
Ford as a counterfeiter withdrawn, as the testimony of these men 
was all that could be brought against him of an oral character. The 
comments upon his expressed doubts that there had been a robbery 
committed, were equally severe. He had been hospitably entertained 
by the Treasurer, had eaten his bread and drunk his wine, and there- 
fore probably knew him better than all the rest of the world who es- 
teemed him guiltless. 

These articles were ably answered under the signature of " Civis," 
but what reliance is to be placed upon the statements made cannot 
now be determined. The confession of Cooper was said to have been 
obtained on the morning fixed for the execution, when, with the body 
of Reynolds hanging before him, he was told that he had not ten 
minutes to live, " unless he confessed." What they wished him to 
confess he already knew, and the writer skilfully argues that, under 
such circumstances, nothing less than the information desired would be 
obtained. His confession was formally taken the next day and impli- 
cated Ford, although he had previously declared under oath that Ford 
had not told him any thing respecting the robbery. The testimony of 
Reynolds was also deemed nullified by the fact that the notes stolen 
from the Treasury were not in sheets. 

The magistrates of Morris county* were likewise severely censured, 
both in Mr. Kinsey's report, and in the articles emanating from his 
I'iieiuls, for having gone out of their way, as was alleged, to obtain the 
testimony of these men ; but after an examination of the charges, the 
Governor and Council — not, it is true, an unprejudiced tribunal for 
such a case — passed a vote of thanks to them for their energy and 
discretion.! 

It should here be remarked, in justice to Ford, that in a letter ad- 
dressed to Cooper — a copy of which is among the Stirling papers — he 
pronounces it an utter falsehood that he had been concerned in the 
robbery, although from the well founded doubts of many of the state- 
ments contained in the letter, this assertion may be received with some 



* Tliey were the Hon. David Ogden Judpe ; Samuel Tuthill and Samuel Ogden 
Esquires, Juslires ; with the Altorncy General Corllandt Siiinner. 

t The members present at this meeting were Kemble, Slevens, Smith.Parker, Smyth, 
Skinner, Coxe and Lawrence. 



scepticism also. He desired to be released from the imputation for 
tha satisfaction of his friends, as he believed ' thej' thought much the 
worse of him for it — not minding the money making charge, which they 
looked upon only as a piece of ingenuity! I fear there are many 
Fords at the present day, who while iJiey would indignantly repel a 
charge of robbery brought against them, yet regard the tortuous de- 
vices, equally at variance with strict integrity, by which they add 
house to house and field to field, as only so many indications of shrewd- 
ness and ingenuity. 

The subject may have been treated too much at length for the 
patience of my audience, but the narration has, I trust, shown how 
potent an influence the, otherwise trifling circumstances detailed ex- 
ercised upon the pubHc mind, preparing it through the organization of 
parties and systematic opposition to the government, for those im- 
portant changes which the Congress of 1774 put in train, and which 
resulted in the overthrow of British authority in New Jersey. Too 
much engrossed with these to attend to matters of minor import, the 
robbery of the treasury — the counterfeiters — and all the events which 
had caused so much excitement, were forgotten by the multitude-^. 
The Treasurer became a wanderer, having adhered to the royal cause, 
and died in Nova Scotia :* — the suit against him was never brought 
to a close — Ford and his accomplices were never again heard of — 
and to this day the same doubts hang over the robbery and the guUt 
of the accused that existed in 1773. 



* The last notice of the Treasurer is in the Minutes of Assembly in February, 1775, 
referring to the balance due from him, over and above the amount stolen. 

On the 7th it was " Ordered that the late treasurer appear to-morrow morning at 10 
o'clock, in order that the House may inquire of him concerning the deficiency due from 
him to the province, and that a copy of the order be served immediately " Mr. Skinner 
responded to this order the next day, stating, that being of his Majesty's Council he 
could not attend before he had submitted the order to that body; — but assured the House 
had he been apprised of their wanting the public money, he would have taken care that 
the whole should have been in the Treasury for their inspection — rather singular lan- 
guage for an ex-treasurer — but he had amply secured the Treasurer for the deficiency. — 
This deficiency was in the amount of the Bills of credit which should have been re- 
deemed and cancelled. On the 9th, Samuel Tucker offered a resolution, which was 
adopted nem con — to the effect that there was such a deficiency, and that it was a breach 
of duty in any treasurer to apply any such money to any private purpose whatever. A 
portion, if not the whole of the amount for which Mr. Skinner failed to account, seems 
to have been lent to Lord Stirling, upon a mortgage which was discovered to be a second 
lien ; and on the 11th of the same month a committee was appointed to wait upon Lord 
Stirling, and request further security, but they failed to obtain it. 



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